William Edwards Bynum IV
Associate Professor in Family Medicine and Community Health

Since arriving to Duke in October 2017, I have enjoyed a highly rewarding mix of patient care, teaching, and research.  Prior to coming to Duke, I served seven years on active duty in the US Air Force, during which I served as faculty in the NCC Family Medicine Residency (Fort Belvoir, VA), deployed to Djibouti in support of regional operations, and served multiple congressional delegations as a traveling physician.

I currently have the privilege of 1) providing outpatient primary care to patients from the Durham region, 2) educating Duke family medicine residents, medical students, and physician assistant students, 3) serving as the Associate Program Director of the Duke Family Medicine Residency, and 4) researching self-conscious emotion (shame, guilt, & pride) in medical learners.  In addition to ongoing empiric research, I have given numerous seminars, grand rounds, and workshops on shame in medical education, both here at Duke and in other organizations and national meetings.  I am excited by Duke's commitment to building supportive, psychologically safe learning environments and very much look forward to contributing to these ongoing efforts.

Current Research Interests

My primary academic interest focuses on how medical learners experience self-conscious emotion (shame, guilt, and pride) as they progress through medical training.  My research to-date has focused on understanding and characterizing medical residents' experiences of shame, and our findings suggest that major shame events can be intense, debilitating experiences that can lead to a host of negative outcomes and may be influenced by the learning environment and personal characteristics such as perfectionism.  My future research plans, which I hope to pursue through a PhD program, seek to 1) characterize shame experiences across the continuum of medical education, focusing on how changes in context influence the shame experiences of medical students, residents, and practicing physicians, and 2) build a theory of shame resilience in medical learners and providers.  

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Contact Information

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